67,000 firearms declared under Liberals' 'buy back' program, well short of budgeted plan

OTTAWA — The federal government says more than 67,000 guns have been registered to be turned in for compensation under its program for banned weapons. 

Public Safety Canada announced the figure on Wednesday, one day after the compensation window, which opened in mid-January, closed for owners of the more than 2,500 makes and models of firearms the federal Liberals have prohibited since 2020.

The figure falls short of the 136,000 weapons department officials said the government had budgeted for compensation.

Public safety says the number of declared guns comes from nearly 38,000 different firearms owners, adding it was still completing declarations for those who had opened a registration account but may have encountered technical issues, as well as for military and law enforcement members currently serving outside of the country.

It says officials would now begin the process of assessing each declaration, with actual collection efforts of these weapons to begin later this spring and run through “early fall 2026.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaking the day before, said there was “obviously a gap” in terms of how many firearms had been declared from owners looking to turn them in, compared to the figures the department had cited for how many it would be able to compensate.

More to come … 

-National Post

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